I've got a Sparc10 workstation with SunOS 4.1 currently installed on it. Is it possible to install Solaris 8 from CDROM, using a serial connection? Using the serial connection, I'm able to get to the 'ok' prompt after typing halt, but if I enter 'boot cdrom' and hit enter, nothing happens. (The carriage return doesn't seem to "register.") Unfortunately, I don't have a monitor that seems to work with this machine. I did try using a VGA adapter, but the monitor goes into power save mode when I turn on the Sparc 10. Thanks!

You should be ok with hyperterm or a connection from another sun. Have you got your settings to 9600, 8, none, 1 on your terminal emulator + vt100? Setting strip 8th bit may help too. I've installed an E220R this way without issue, although the whole stop A thing can be fun... I'm not sure but perhaps control+m may do a return for you... that's a guess. As for the monitor not working, I would guess that perhaps the output device has been changed (if your adapter is the correct one). You could try doing a set-defaults from the OK prompt to see if you can get the display working from there? Let us know how you get on!

Thanks for the advice. I'm connecting from a linux box, using minicom. The biggest problem seems to be that I can't get it to understand the return cariage. I did try control+m, and that doesn't do anything. If I type help control+c, it spits back: help ? If that makes a difference. Would you happen to have any other suggestions? The terminal settings are 9600-7e1. 8n1 displays everything as garbage (execpt for the first few minutes of the boot process.) I've tried both VT102 and ANSI for emulation settings, there isn't a VT100 option. Thanks!

Hum.... I don't think Linux has tip. If you know of an equivalent linux command to tip then you could try that. It sounds like something in a definiton file isn't right to me. There's no way of seeing what your sun is set to (eeprom ttya-mode) which doesn't help either. I have always used hyperterm with vt100 8n1 and had no problems at all, so I wonder if the lack of this emulation mode is presenting a problem. Are there any options tucked away in the minicom program at all? Perhaps borrow a laptop and try using that. Is it possible to try a different terminal emulation program that supports vt100? or does running minicom with the -t vt100 argument work? That's about all I can think of :( I'm afraid I'm not really familiar with minicom.

Thanks a lot for the help so far. Using a W2k host (running in VMWare) I am able to use hyperterm and get the cariage return to work. (I had to check the "Send Line ends with Line Feeds" box.) However, I still have the same problem. No matter what I type, it just gets "echoed" back to me with a ? appended. If I type: printenv I get: printenv ? Minicom complained that there wasn't a VT100 defined in termcap. I think I'm going to give up on installing over a serial connection and see if I can pick up or borrow a cheap monitor which will work with this box...Unless you're able to pull something else out of your hat! :-) Thanks again.